There’s a Magic that must be Love…

I cannot deny that the succession of Ed, then Farrah, and then Michael passing this week has startled me.  And while I wouldn’t place any of these entertainers at the top of my list of influences I still feel that somehow in the time of only a week an entire era has just passed us by.  And indeed I pause because there’s no question that for me, the era itself was quite influential… as I suspect many others would also attest for themselves.  Perhaps that thought alone startles me as much as anything.  

As the news-reporters interview people around the world, who all seem genuinely stunned after the Michael Jackson news, I find myself thinking these questions about us everyday Americans:  WHO DIDN’T grow up listening to Michael Jackson’s music?  What young man in the 70s DIDN’T see visions of Farrah Fawcett in his carnal dreams?  What person DOESN’T remember the Ed McMahon laughter as an icon in itself from The Tonight Show?  

And maybe if we honor that familiar, altruistic generosity of the biggest single pop star the world has ever seen, perhaps our mourning of Michael Jackson should actually reaffirm this great capacity for inclusiveness with prayers for the other two— and for all from that era— much like his music magically carried along with it so many from any background, ethnicity, or nationality.  We possibly cannot over estimate the impact on the people of the world as the news spreads to the furthest reaches.  Probably not since Princess Diana died has such an icon left the proverbial stage.  

As I turn down the chatter on the television of reporters trying to “get the story” I find myself thinking how there is something from childhood that we never lose: how we love to amuse and to BE amused.  And at first glance of the lifestyle of Michael Jackson we maybe do dismiss him in the most recent years as excessively dizzied by amusements— perhaps even to an immoral and illegal level.  But there is no denying that as an artist and performer Michael lived for the adoration of the audience who fueled his inspirations and delivered back to him in that adoration the one and only measurement of his art that mattered to him.  This extraordinary, reciprocal devotion truly was, and perhaps always will be, what legitimately coronates the King of Pop. 

Maybe you’ll be reminded over and over this weekend of every little thing about Michael Jackson— and maybe it will become somewhat tiresome— but whether you had any connection to the music of Michael Jackson or not, a huge percentage of the population of the world mourns the loss of this human being whose music crossed the sometimes impenetrable borders of our world with a message reminding us that WE ALL “can ride the boogie and share that beat of love”.  

And to me, that really is fantastic!  So if you’ve come along this far in this post, please click below to enjoy MY favorite Michael Jackson tune in the video below.  And if you turn it up loud enough maybe Ed and Farrah will hear you too. 

Girl, close your eyes
Let that rhythm, get into to you
Don’t try to fight it
There ain’t nothin’ that you can do
Relax your mind
Lay back and groove with mine
You gotta feel the heat
And we can ride the boogie
Share that beat of love

(chorus)
I wanna rock with you (all night)
Dance you in the day (sunlight)
I wanna rock with you (all night)
We’re gonna rock the night away

Out on the floor
There ain’t nobody there but us
Girl, when you dance
There’s a magic that must be love
Just take it slow
‘Cause we got so far to go
When you feel that heat
And we gunna ride the boogie
Share that beat of love

(chorus)

And when the grove is dead and gone
yeah, u no that love survives
so we can rock forever

I wanna rock with you
I wanna groove with you

I wanna rock with you
Iwanna groove with you

Rock (all night)
Girl, (sunlight)
Rock with you, rock with you,(all night)yeah
Dance the night away (rock rock)

(chorus)

Feel the beat, feel the beat woo
Rock you in the day (sunlight)
I wanna rock (all night)
Rock the night away

— Michael Jackson